Tag Archives: Bob Miller

The USS Akron was a helium-filled rigid airship of the U.S. Navy which was the world’s first purpose-built flying aircraft carrier, carrying F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes which could be launched and recovered while she was in flight. With an overall length of 785 ft (239 m), the Akron and her sister airship the Macon were among the largest flying objects ever built, and the largest ever helium-filled airships.

The USS Akron was destroyed in a thunderstorm off the coast of New Jersey on the morning of 4 April 1933. Strong winds forced the ship down so low that its lower fin contacted the Atlantic, drawing the rest of the ship after it. In rough seas, the ship soon broke up, killing 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers, the greatest loss of life in any known airship crash.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr was only 20 months old when he was kidnapped from the Lindbergh home in East Amwell, New Jersey on March 1, 1932. His corpse was found nearby more than two months later on May 12. The cause of death was a skulll fracture.

The discovery of the body brought to a close the media and public speculation about the fate of the baby, which included hoaxes and involvement by the FBI. The death of the child was a crushing blow to his parents, who had paid a $50,000 ransom. The investigation into the crime continued for another two years, and the man eventually convicted and executed for the crime, Bruno Hauptmann, insisted on his innocence until his death, and the truth of his assertions remains questionable even today.